2017 Concerts

Oct. 6: Stephan Crump’s Rhombal

Bassist-composer Stephan Crump, a longtime member of the hit Vijay Iyer Trio, returns as a leader to the Sound It Out series to present his cross-generational quartet Rhombal, featuring trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, tenor saxophonist Ellery Eskelin and drummer Kassa Overall. Stephan and company are fresh off the release of the band’s first album – which The New York Times dubbed “excellent” and DownBeat praised for the way it “bristles with the unexpected and lively.” Up-and-coming trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, the latest member of the famed O’Farrill family to make a name in jazz, joins esteemed veteran saxophonist Ellery Eskelin on the front line, with Stephan and young drummer Kassa Overall forming an ace rhythm section. About Stephan, The New York Times has said: “As a bassist and composer, Mr. Crump avoids obvious routes but manages never to lose his way.” Below is a personal note from Stephan about his new eponymous album with Rhombal…

” `Rhombal’ is not about sadness. Much more that, it’s a commemoration of a death well-confronted, of a spiritual evolution I witnessed in my brother during our last days together, and of how close we left each other after what had been, for many years, a very troubled relationship… In putting a band together, I usually look first to the spirits involved rather than particular instruments, although after years of exploring with my all-string Rosetta Trio and numerous duo projects, I knew I wanted to deal with drums and breath. I also wanted the collective freedom and challenge that comes from omitting a chordal instrument, and at times to find how the band, itself, might be that instrument…

“I met Adam while on faculty at the Banff creative music summer program in 2013 and immediately connected with him as a person, plus I couldn’t get enough of hearing him play his horn. Ellery I’d admired from afar for years before introducing myself with this project in mind. I thought he and Adam might make an inspired team and was drawn to the generational breadth they would bring to the group. Hearing their sounds together as they warmed up before our first rehearsal, I was knocked back by the vibration. It almost doesn’t matter what notes they play. . . In the name Rhombal, there is a bit of ‘rumble,’ evoking a scrum or sparring tangle, but even more, the idea of developing geometries, of shape-shifting while maintaining a powerful structural integrity and functional equality… I began writing this music in the last few months of my brother’s life, as he battled an extremely rare, aggressive sarcoma. The writing flowed through a year after his passing and was shaped by the chemistry of the band as we began to rehearse and perform. Then, this winter, we recorded the album in a two-day studio journey that was one of the most profound and moving experiences of my life, and which left me with the feeling of a new brotherhood, just formed.”